[Breaking] BTC-e founder arrested for laundering $4 bln in Bitcoin from Mt.Gox
As Reuters confirmed that Alexander Vinnik arrested in Greece today is connected to BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange. He was arrested in a small beachside village in Greece, on a United States warrant.
"Since 2011 the 38-year-old has been running a criminal organization which administers one of the most important websites of electronic crime in the world," said in the statement, describing an alleged money laundering operation that "legalizes proceeds from illegal activities".
The arrest comes amid a broader international crackdown that has resulted in the closures of AlphaBay and Hansa, two of the world's most popular dark markets.
Founded in 2011, BTC-e is one of the oldest and most obscure virtual currency exchanges, allowing users to trade bitcoin anonymously against fiat currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, and other virtual currencies. According to an interview from 2013, BTC-e had 2 founders, Russian programmers Aleksey and Alexander, who wish to remain anonymous.
Personally, I was using this exchange since the beginning and lost about 1 BTC trading there in different currencies. Will keep this thread updated.
BTC-e just posted on BitcoinTalk:
Here's the detailed report on how the funds were stolen from Mt.Gox: http://blog.wizsec.jp/2017/07/breaking-open-mtgox-1.html
Very interesting. Somehow I am not very surprised...
New update: FinCEN imposed a penalty for BTC-e with amount of 110 million USD for Violating US Anti-Money Laundering Laws, and for Vinnik personally - 12 million USD.
Update: "At the moment we are working to restore the service. ETA: from 5 to 10 days."
Disclaimer: I am just a bot trying to be helpful.
Update from Coindesk: Russian arrested in connection with BTC-e is "chief suspect in the MtGox theft and subsequent money laundering."
In other words: "BTC-E hacked MtGox"
Disclaimer: I am just a bot trying to be helpful.
oh gosh i still got all of my ltc on btce... :|
well lets hope for the best :)
great post..lucky i transferred all fund to my coin base account last week...thanks for info
Fortunately, I also transferred a big portion of fresh bought ether from there just few days ago (sadly still left some). "NEVER KEEP money on the exchange!"
It was shaddy, but most of exchanges are. It had the cheapest btc, a big variety of options to deposit/withdraw fiat and the support was very responsive.
oh...really ..good ..hope you will get remaining too..
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